This file is provided for reference purposes only. It was current when produced, but is no longer maintained and may now be outdated. Please select www.ovc.gov to access current information.

Rape and Sexual Assault

Rapes reported to law enforcement in 2001 totaled 90,491 incidents.
In 44.3 percent of the reported cases, at least one person was
arrested and charged. (Federal Bureau of Investigation.
October 2002. Crime in the United States,Uniform Crime
Reports 2001. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Twenty-seven thousand two hundred and seventy people (27,270) were
arrested and charged for rape in the United States in 2001. (Ibid.)

There were 1.1 rapes or sexual assaults among persons 12 or older
per 1,000 people in 2001. In 66 percent of these victimizations,
the offender was an intimate, another relative, a friend or an
acquaintance of the victim. (Bureau of Justice
Statistics. 2002. Criminal Victimization 2001. Changes 2000-01
with Trends 1993-2001. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

There were an estimated 248,000 rapes, attempted rapes and sexual
assaults in 2001 according to the National Crime Victimization
Survey. (Ibid.)

An annual average of 140,990 completed rapes, 109,230 attempted
rapes, and 152,680 completed and attempted sexual assaults were
committed against persons age 12 or older in the United States
between the years 1992 and 2000. (Bureau of
Justice Statistics. 2002. Rape and Sexual Assault: Reporting
to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Justice.)

Ninety-four percent of all completed rapes, 91 percent of all
attempted rapes, and 89 percent of all completed and attempted
sexual assaults between 1992 and 2000 were against female victims
aged 12 or older. (Ibid.)

Only 36 percent of completed rapes were reported to the police
during the years 1992 to 2000. Thirty-four percent of the attempted
rapes, and 26 percent of the completed and attempted sexual assaults
were reported. (Ibid.)

All rapes, 39 percent of attempted rapes, and 17 percent of sexual
assaults against females resulted in injured victims during the
period surveyed between1992 to 2000. When rapes were reported
to
the police, victims were treated for their injuries in 59 percent
of the cases. When the rapes went unreported, only 17 percent of
the victims received medical treatment for their injuries. (Ibid.)

A recently published eight-year study indicates that when perpetrators
of rape are current or former husbands or boyfriends, the crimes
go unreported to the police 77 percent of the time. When the perpetrators
are friends or acquaintances, the rapes go unreported 61 percent
of the time; and when the perpetrators are strangers, the rapes
go unreported 54 percent of the time. (Ibid.)

Five percent of all middle schools and 8 percent of all high schools
reported at least one crime of rape or sexual battery to law enforcement
in the 1996-1997 school year. (Bureau of Justice
Statistics. November 2002. Indicators of School Crime and Safety:
2002. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

The results of several surveys conducted since 1994 on rape and
sexual assault inside of prisons indicate that conservatively speaking,
one in 10 of all male prisoners in United States correctional systems
have been raped, sexually assaulted, or coerced into sexual activity
by other inmates. (Human Rights Watch. April
2001. No Escape, Male Rape in U.S. Prisons. New York.)